Matteo Ricci, #Jesuit missionary d 5/11 1610. After mastering Chinese and Confucian classics, he won respect as a scholar, publishing works on astronomy, philosophy, etc. His strategy: Christianity must eschew taint of colonialism and present itself in terms of Chinese culture.
Conversation
Once Christianity was accepted as part of Chinese culture, others could spread the gospel among the masses. Unfortunately his strategy was undone by Vatican officials whose philosophy was, in effect, “When in China, do as the Romans.”
The issue was the veneration of ancestors, a critical feature of Confucianism, in which Ricci saw no conflict with Christian morality, but which the Church deemed idolatrous. The condemnation of “ancestor worship” by papal decree closed the door that Ricci had opened.
1
12